The present invention relates to a hair styling appliance including a handle portion, a heating portion for heating the hair, and a holding member which can be moved from an open to a closed condition, with the hair being adapted to be placed between the heating portion and the holding member.
A hair styling appliance of this type is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,426,567. In this patent, a handle is provided on which an electrically operated heating element is retained. The heating element has an elongated configuration and serves to heat a user's hair. A scissors-type clamping member is pivotally mounted roughly in the transition area between the handle and the heating element. The clamping member has also an elongated design and is adapted in its shape to the heating element. The clamping member can be swivelled by a user to a closed condition and an open condition by means of an actuating lever. Hair may be placed in between the heating element and the clamping member in the open condition. Hair may then be wrapped around the heating element and styled in this way.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 1,865,655 discloses an electrically operated hair curling iron of the type initially referred to, wherein the holding member is pivotable about a bearing provided on the handle portion until the holding member will abut on the surface of the heating portion. The holding member is connected to two oppositely arranged clamping members which can be tilted manually in relation to the longitudinal axis of the holding member so that they bear against the surface of the heating portion and partly embrace it, when the holding member is in abutment on the heating portion. Hair rolled up on the heating portion will thus be pressed by the clamping members against the surface of the heating portion.
When hair is disposed between the heating element and the clamping member, it is pressed against the heating element by the clamping member when in the closed condition. The pressure force exerted on the hair depends on the distance between the hair and the tilting axis. Thus, a higher pressure force acts upon the hair proximate the tilting axis than spaced farther away therefrom. This renders it impossible in the prior art hair styling tool to press the hair evenly against the heating element over the entire length of the clamping member.
An object of the present invention is to provide a hair styling element which permits a uniform application of the hair against the heating barrel.